CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A nervous young John Beilein walked toward Cameron Indoor Stadium on Dec. 1, 1992, for a shootaround and found himself floored by the students that had pitched tents and camped out for a game against Canisius.

“‘Damn,’” he remembered thinking. “I said, ‘They’re set up in Krzyzewskiville to play Canisius?’”

He wanted to make sure he wasn’t missing something, being his first game with the school, and as a Division 1 head coach. So he turned to one of the Blue Devils fans to ask if they had all really camped out to see his Golden Griffins.

“And (the fan) said, ‘Heck, no, we play Michigan this weekend.’”

A cold shoulder continued once he got inside. Canisius fell, 110-62.

It’s something Beilein — now in his fourth year at Michigan — can sit and laugh about heading into a far more important game against Duke this afternoon at Time Warner Cable Arena in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

Times have changed since that long night in Durham. So has the talent at Beilein’s disposal. His eighth-seeded Wolverines stormed through their opener with a 75-45 drubbing of Tennessee on Friday, with a team entirely recruited by Beilein. He has them as primed as ever to exorcise his old demons against Mike Krzyzewski.

“It’s a no-brainer that when they hired John (that Michigan) would be a consistent NCAA participant,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s a good friend and I admire him. He’s a coach’s coach. He’s a program builder. It’s evident they’re building a program there, they believe in what they’re doing.”

Back at Canisius, those around the team remember Beilein cycling two phrases over and over again to his players throughout his first few seasons: “Roadkill” and “raising expectations.”

A “roadkill” was any win away from home, something he would lead the MAAC conference in after just a couple years there. Raising expectations happened when his team would beat an opponent they weren’t supposed to.

“It was the terminology that was incorporated during his time there,” said John Maddock, now associate athletic director at Canisius who worked with the basketball team back then. “I know the kids bought into him and they believed he knew what he was doing.”

And for a moment, Beilein saw both come to life before his eyes early in that first visit to Cameron.

Against a Duke lineup that featured Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley and Cherokee Parks, the Golden Griffins trailed by eight early when Krzyzewski called a timeout.

“I said, ‘Boy, I think we got a pretty good team here, we can hang with Duke. It’s 32-24,’” Beilein remembered.

Then came the 30-2 run.

It seemed like the next time Beilein turned around, reality had set in as Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils uncoiled on the poor team.

Then, Krzyzewski was nice enough to lend a hand. Before the score got lopsided, he sat his Duke defense back into a soft zone, allowing Beilein’s team to crawl back toward a respectable deficit. He thanked Krzyzewski afterward.